


A Window To The Past

by intern_at_german_chapterhouse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adult Draco Malfoy, Adult Harry, Adult Harry Potter, Adult Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Family Reunions, Future Fic, Happy, Happy Ending, Harry Potter Next Generation, M/M, Married Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Married Hermione Granger/ Ron Weasley, Memories, Memory Related, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Minor Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, One Big Happy Family, POV Harry Potter, Post-Canon, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Songfic, Teacher Harry, Teacher Harry Potter, all was well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27578842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intern_at_german_chapterhouse/pseuds/intern_at_german_chapterhouse
Summary: The Potter-Weasley-Granger-Lupin family gathers to celebrate Harry's birthday.And Harry can't help but be reminded of the past. Especially with the surprise guests they get.Just a short happy fic, kind of based on the feeling  John Williams' "A Window To The Past" gives me whenever I hear it.( https://youtu.be/MrZB9nPMvS4 )
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger & Rose Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter, Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	A Window To The Past

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> I do not own any of these characters. Some of them, unfortunately, belong to JKR.
> 
> I do not support JKR or her horrible "views" on gender or sexuality. Trans men are men, trans women are women and anyone who disagress with that should feel free to read something else.

Harry walked into the living room, looked out into the garden through the glass doors and saw them sitting there.  
He felt like he was looking straight into the past.  
  
Three of them sat on the edge of the veranda, talking.  
The tallest had red hair (at least at the moment), the boy in the middle looked exactly like Harry had at his age, and the girl with curly hair was explaining something to them.  
Teddy was clearly distracted, James seemed to at least be trying to understand what his cousin was explaining and Rose looked exasperated by them.  
  
Harry had no clue what she was talking about, but their body language seemed so familiar.  
He could just imagine himself, Ron, and Hermione sitting there.  
  
Then his eyes wandered over to another redhead, hovering on a broom while juggling with three apples she must have picked from the tree behind her.  
She was even wearing one of her mother's old Holyhead Harpies shirts.  
  
All of this made him smile.  
Their kids growing up together, being so familiar with each other.  
It just seemed right for all of this to remind him of himself and his friends so much.  
  
Although there were things that were entirely different. Things he could have never imagined.  
Like Hugo sitting in one of the chairs on the lawn, talking to Georgina Dursley.  
Or Dudley himself sitting in the dining room, Harry could hear his laugh spill into the living room.  
But most shockingly, there was a Malfoy kid, sitting in his garden as well. On a blanket, next to Albus, holding his hand.  
  
Harry hadn't quite gotten used to the idea of a Malfoy in his house. And now there were three of them.  
Draco and Astoria had shown up with their son to dinner. Before Harry had even been able to open his mouth, Ginny had already put more plates on the table and invited them in.  
Well, if it made his son happy, Harry wouldn't cause a scene.  
  
He stood there for a while, with a book in his hand.  
He'd completely forgotten that he wanted to bring the book back to the dining room. They'd had an argument about something involving Hogwarts and to proof Hermione wrong, Ron wanted Harry to get „A History of Hogwarts“. Harry had been pretty sure, that Hermione was right, but he wasn't going to tell Ron that without definite proof.  
  
Malfoy speaking startled Harry and he almost dropped the book.  
„You need help, Potter?“  
Harry shook his head, „No, I'm good, just got distracted.“  
Malfoy came over to stand next to him and looked out into the garden too. He seemed to take in the sight of the teenagers and young adults sitting out there and huffed out a short laugh.  
„Look at those three, they look just like-“  
„Yeah, I've noticed,“ Harry interrupted him.  
He was still watching Malfoy when the blond man looked over to the side and saw their sons there.  
„I'm just glad Scorpius hasn't found himself friends like Grabbe and Goyle.“  
Harry turned his face to look at Albus and Scorpius.  
Albus swung his wand and let birds fly from its tip. He was still getting used to being allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts.  
Both of the boys watched the birds fly and dissolve into thin air after a few seconds.  
They were both smiling and Scorpius reached out to Albus and pulled him in for a kiss.  
  
Both Harry and Malfoy turned away from the garden. Malfoy looked down at his feet first and then up at Harry.  
„Actually, I'm just glad, that Scorpius found Albus. And the rest of that bunch. They've been really nice to him.“  
„He's a nice kid.“ Harry shrugged.  
„They could have hated him for being my son. Because of what I did to their parents.“  
For a second they were both quiet.  
The living room was filled with the sounds from outside and the dining room, laughter and voices, the sound of one of Lily's apples falling to the ground.  
„We were kids, man. You were just a kid.“  
For another second the air was filled by the noises around them as Malfoy looked down to his feet again.  
„Still, what I did, none of it was right.“  
„Mabe not, but you were influenced by the people around you, just like I was. I don't blame you for what you did. Don't get me wrong,“ Harry laughed lightly, „I did, I really did. But... I guess I've realized how much we were manipulated by them. Your parents, Dumbledore, Voldemort.“  
„They used us and we were too young to resist.“  
„Too young to even realize it was happening.“  
  
Malfoy reached out his hand first. Harry took it and they looked each other in the eyes for the first time in decades.  
Malfoy also was the first to let go.  
„Thanks for dinner.“  
„Don't mention it.“  
„Sorry for just showing up, I got the feeling Scorpius hadn't actually asked if we could stay too.“  
Shrugging, Harry said: „The more the merrier, right?“  
„The new school year starting soon, isn't it? Weird to think that Scorpius won't be going back to Hogwarts anymore.“  
„Yeah, Lily, Hugo, and Georgina are still going in September. I'll have to get there in a couple of weeks though.“  
„You're going to Hogwarts? What, to give a speech? The great Harry Potter, The Chosen One?“ His voice almost sounded like back when he used to make fun of Harry in school. But now, the mocking tone in it was a lot softer.  
„Ha! No, I'll be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Jane's retiring and Minerva asked me to step in.“  
„Mmh.“ Malfoy seemed to think about it for a few seconds and then nodded. „Yeah, I can see that.“  
Harry smiled and was surprised when the other man smiled back at him.  
He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Malfoy smile.  
  
Malfoy cleared his throat. „ I think we should go back in, Granger and Weasley are still debating the same thing they were talking about ten minutes ago.“  
„Yeah,“ Harry laughed and awkwardly raised the book, „I'm pretty sure Hermione is right though.“  
„Of course she is!“  
  
Laughing, they both entered the dining room.  
Harry was busy opening the book and giving it to Hermione, but Draco saw Ginny smile at them.  
„Would you like another piece of Harry's pumpkin pie?“  
„Oh, yes please!“  
  
„What do you think they were talking about?“  
„I don't know. I'm just glad they're talking at all.“  
Scorpius chuckled, „Maybe I should have asked your parents if it's cool to bring mine.“  
„Nah, Mum's fine with it and I think Dad is too. I mean, how can someone not like you and your family?“  
„Well, we're not the Potters. There are quite a few people who don't like us all that much.“  
Albus smiled sadly, thinking back to their first years in Hogwarts, people picking on Scorpius. „Yeah, but they don't know you like I do.“  
„No one knows me like you do.“  
  
„Hey, you know what, I'll go back inside, you kids have fun.“ Teddy got up and walked back inside to his fiancée and the others while James and Rose stayed behind.  
„God, you guys are impossible!“ Rose finally had enough and got up to walk over to her brother and Georgina.  
„Hey guys.“  
They greeted her back and Lily came over to join them as well.  
„So, what are you gonna do, now that you've graduated?“ Georgina asked Rose.  
„I'll get to do an internship at Pop's old department, Muggle Relations,“ Rose smiled at her.  
„It's still kind of weird to me that there's a department that deals with Muggles. I mean, you guys grew up in this world, but I didn't. I grew up as a Muggle.“ Georgina shrugs.  
„Mum and I have actually been talking about ways to make it easier for muggle-borns to acclimatize at Hogwarts. I know the transition can be pretty jarring and maybe there are some things we can do to make it a little easier. We'll probably be conducting a few interviews over the school year with muggle-borns to hear what they'd like.“ Rose could barely stop herself from going into more detail. She'd been talking to her mother about this for months now, it was something they both wanted to work on.  
„Your Mum's a pretty cool Minister, I love that she's always so close to the people involved in her decisions!“  
All of them smiled and nodded.  
„Yeah, I like that too.“  
Hugo was about to add something to their discussion when AJ came running out of the living room and jumped into his sister's arms.  
Lily almost fell to the ground, the younger boy must have forgotten that he wasn't exactly a little kid anymore.  
„Hey little man, aren't you tired yet?“ She pushed his red hair out of his face and put him back on the ground.  
„No, I'm fine!“ He yelled so loudly she almost jumped back in surprise. Perhaps he'd had a few chocolate frogs too many, the sugar seemed to have affected him a little bit.  
Before any of the group could say anything, AJ ran back inside where they could see Fred standing in the doorway.  
He smiled and waved at them before picking up his youngest cousin and carrying him inside.  
Georgina sighed loudly and Hugo turned to her: „What's up?“  
„Oh, I was just trying to remember how hard it was to learn all of your names when Dad and I first came to visit. I mean, Arthur Junior was pretty easy, he was the youngest, but half of you guys are redheads, half are named after other people – some of which are still alive- and there's just so many of you! And now there's boyfriends and girlfriends and even fiancés too and... Hey, don't laugh at me!“  
  
James was still sitting on the porch, just watching his siblings and cousins.  
He loved dinners and celebrations where everyone came together, but they also tended to be rather exhausting.  
  
After AJ almost tripped over James, the older brother got up and followed the little whirlwind inside and saw him go back to the dining room with Fred.  
In the living room, James stopped at the fireplace.  
The mantle was covered in picture frames.  
Pictures from the last couple of years, pictures from his childhood, pictures from his parent's time at Hogwarts, pictures of his grandparents.  
James took out his wand and lit it up to see them better.  
His favourite pictures stood right in the middle of all the frames.  
Two pictures of the Order and one of Dumbledore's Army.  
And just like any time he looked at those pictures, it freaked him out how similar he looked to his

Dad. And his grandfather.  
How much Lily looked like Ginny and Hugo like Ron.  
But what always sent a shiver down his spine was the pictures of Fred. The older one, his uncle. He knew that a lot of people had trouble keeping him and George apart, but their similarity wasn't what surprised him whenever he looked at the pictures. It was how much his cousin looked like their uncle.  
He let his gaze flicker over more of the pictures.  
Teddy's parents, hugging each other. They looked like they hadn't even noticed the camera.  
His father's godfather, whose name he had inherited.  
The schoolmaster his brother was named after, standing inside his office, looking sternly ahead.  
A picture of his mother's family in Egypt, waving at him.  
A picture of Harry and Hermione in front of a tent, Hermione walking towards the camera.  
And his father's parents. Who had been younger in any of the photos than he was now. Lily's eyes that both his father and Albus had inherited. The childish smile on James's lips that AJ had on his every day.  
The moving pictures sometimes made it hard to believe that so many of these people were truly dead.  
  
It was well past midnight when Harry and Ginny finally went to bed.  
AJ had been up way too late and would probably be cranky tomorrow but the evening had been too great to worry about that for now.  
Ginny yawned as they crawled under the covers and Harry had to yawn too.  
„I'm really glad, Ron and Hermione are hosting the next get-together in winter! And that Mum wants to do Christmas for all of us at their house. Less to clean that way.“  
Harry had to smile at that, since he'd cleaned everything by himself after Ginny and Ron had looked a little too deep into their glasses later in the evening.  
He was about to respond when he looked at his wife and saw that she was already asleep.  
The smile on his lips spread even wider and a warm feeling filled his heart.  
With the flick of his wand, he turned off the lights and closed his eyes. In the darkness, he saw images of the day pass by.  
The people that had come from all over to have dinner and to celebrate his birthday.  
The kids spending time together (although most of them were barely even children anymore).  
The plans each one had for the future.  
The feeling of happiness and peace surrounding all of them.  
Even Malfoy being there felt good.  
Harry fell asleep with a huge grin on his face.  
The last picture in his mind, before the dreams took over, was Rose, James and Teddy sitting out there, talking and laughing.  
But in his mind, James was wearing glasses. And Rose was a little smaller. And Teddy's nose was a little longer.  
In his mind, it was like looking through a window, to the past.


End file.
